Routing apparatus.



F. G. WHITTIER.

ROUTING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 28, 1912 Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

2 $HEETSSHEET 1.

INVENTOR. I Eat :Jm'c/r BY WITNESSES:

15w TTORNEK P. G. WHITTIEE. ROUTING. APPARATUS. I

APPLICATION FILED 00T.28,1912.

1,125,231, Patented Jan.19,1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WITNESSES: 'INVENTOR.

9% pm BY 1 648%.

11; ATTORNEY.

FREDERICK e. WHITTIER, F BRooKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE LAM- son COMPANY, or BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION 012 NEW JERSEY.

ROUTING APPARATUS.

. folk and Commonwealth of Massachusetts,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements'in Routing Apparatus, of wh ch the following is a specification.

This invention relates to routing'a-pparatus for use in department stores, express oifices and the like, where very large-numbers of packages, bundles, etc., must be expeditiously and eiiiciently handled during relatively limited periods of time. In business places of theabove mdieated type, space is usually of very great importance and the packagehandling system should, in the first place, be as compact as possible. It further should,preferably, be"

adapted to deliverthe goods to a plurality of points where they may be conveniently marked by, for example a number of employees of the establishment whose duty it is to label or mark upon, the respective packages the symbol of the bin or repository into a which such packages are to be deposited, so;

that goods intended to be delivered to particular localities may be assembled in groups or batches preparatory to shipment. a 'It is highly desirable that the apparatu be of simple construction and that it be adapted to deliver the -packages to the points where they are to be labeled in substantially consecutive order so that the goods first conveyed to the routing table may in general be. the first to be labeled or handled, and so on. 'The'apparatus also should provide for a relatively slow movement of the packages over the table, andthat substantially toward the labeling points or operatives rather than laterally with respect tothe same.

' These and other objects of my m sses will be hereinafter referred to and the novel,

' means and combinations of..elements whereby they may be attained will be more pain tic'ularly set'forth in the claims appended 'hereto. 1 I

In the accompanying drawing, which forms a part hereof, I-have shown several forms of the apparatus in question but I am aware that various changes and modifications may be made therein without depart- ;ing from the spirit of my invention and hence desire to be of said claims.

. Referring to the drawing, like'referen a Specification of Letters Patent.

limited only b'y'the scope characters in which have been used to desig- FFIQEO Patented Jan. 19, 1915.

Application filed October 28,1912. Serial No. 728,049.

nate like parts in the respective views: Fig- ,I

use 1 is a perspective View of a routing table constructed inaccordance with the principles of my invention' Fig. 2 is a modification of the same, Fig. 3 is a further modification.

In the exemplification of the apparatus shown in Fig. 1, the table proper is provided with a sloping or inclined surface 1 which ispecuIiarly well adapted to spread or dis tribute the parcels or packages, delivered thereto, toward the stations 2 atwhich said that by reason of the distributing action of the surface 1, the stations 2 may extend or be disposed around a plurality of sides thereof permitting of a number of operatives simultane; isly handling the packages. For convenience er description the surface 1 may be defined-as being humped, that is, it is not a flat surface but one rather which preferably slopes away from an upper portion' thereof downwardly in different directions.

v If desired, the rear side of the table may be provided with flanges 5, or the like, to prevent the inadvertent dropping of parcels thereover and I prefer to provide suitable conveying means'such, for example, as the belt 6 for deliveringthe parcels or packages to substantiallythe uppermost portion 7 bf the surface 1.- This portion 7 may, if desired, be, for 1a shortdistance, of somewhat less 'inclination tha n the remaining vportion'of the surface in question but is so The contour of this portion is such as to cause packages which chance to be upon, let us say,'the right hand side of the belt 6, as

.viewed inY'Fig, 1, to slide down over the spreading-surface generally toward the is such that the incoming packages or par-- cels will quite automatically distribute them- 10 selves toward the respective stations. Those packages which are first delivered to the table Will, of course, slide down until they engage the beading 3 and will then serve to retainpackages to the rear-thereof upon the inclined surface so that only as the first packages are removed can succeeding ones descend into engagement with said beading, llf desired, the beading may be enlarged or more extendedly flanged as at-- 8, immediately adjacent the spaces 4: in which the operatives stand so as to prevent packages,

' by any chance, sliding from 0d the table into said spaces. It willbe noted that the width of the table is very considerablygreater thanthat of the conveyingvmeans. The latter may be of any desired type of construction but I prefer to use a belt conveyer of any well known description adapted to the purpose in question.

Outside of the stations 2, which are located along the front edge of the routing table, is, in the present case, a conveyingbelt 9 which rides a channel 10 in a well known manner. The channel or trough 10 maybe supported upon suitable uprights '11 and preferably contains both the upper and lower portions of the belt as indicatedin the figure, I a

Where the packages arefto be distributed 4 around a plurality of sides of the table it may be, in some cases, found desirable to provide auxiliary belts '12, which may be driven in the direction of the arrows indicated thereon, so that they deliver to the belt 9'. The operation of this form of, the device is as follows: The incoming'packages which are delivered by the "conveying means 6 are deposited up'on the portion 7 of the surface I 1 and. automatically apportion themselves.

- "to the respective stations '2 the manner indicated. The loperatives occupying the spaces 4 pick up the lowermost packages, 1 -"which are injengagement with the heading flanges 3 8 and labelthem according to r destination, preferably placthereon the number of the bin or. receptacle, the label or stamp being applied while th-..Package reposesupon the surface 1., Thereafter, said packages are placed upon the belts'i) or 12, as the case may be, all of them, of course, ultimatelybeing routed upon the belt 9 from which they may be removed by operatives stationed adjacent the bins not shown since these latter form no part, of the presentinvention.

One great advantage of the present construction is that the package immediately behind the one which has been picked up an operative for the purpose of being labeled, automaticallyslides down toward yo the same operative in almost all cases, so that the general consecutive order of the packages 1s not materially disturbed. The movement of the packages over the spread- .ing surface is, of course, more or less a step by step one and relatively slow, depending upon the speed of the operative; but a package having once arrived opposite a given. operative, remains stationary and Conven ient, to his hand until-he removes the same so from the surface 1.-

In the form .of deviceshown in Fig. 2 the spreading surface 1 is substantially flat but as the packages descend over this surface they will naturally tend to spreadafi themselves toward the respective stations 2 although, admittedly,'not so much as in the case previously considered. In this instance, in addition to the heading, ll have indicated that the portion of the surface 1 iminediea \ately adjacent'thereto has the angular disposition thereof, with respect to thehorizontal,

so changed that-"there is a tendency t i .when the packages are delivered directly down to the beading, or where suchportion 13 is relatively'narrow, the said packages are convenient to his hand.- lit may, in some instances, be found-desirable to run the delivering belt 6 substantially parallel tothe table in the manner shown in Fig. 3. 1

To facilitate the spreading or scattering of the packages toward the operatives or. routers stationed the several spaces 4;, I prefer in such cases to provide'thetable with deflecting. means adapted to unload said packages, from the conveying means 6, more or less equably alongtho upper edge of ,the surface 1". A very simple means for accomplishing this isthe extended spreaden'or' deflector'ld which preferably extends substantially the entire length 1535 of the table.'-' The larger packages obviously will usuallybe the first to unload; being i shifted laterally with respect as the belt by the deflector until they lurch over onto the inclined surface 1}"; The packages of suc- 18o be particularly noted, however, that wherethe spreading means employed is such an extended deflector, the general angle of divergence of the latter from the line of travel of the conveyer should be but small. 1

The surfaces 1, 1, 1', may be given'an inclination of, let us say. 23, and I have plurality of operating f stations, means of found in practice that this relatively slight inclination afi'ords most satisfactory results for paper covered parcels and'the like.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: r y p 1.. The combination of a stationary 'sorting table ofsufficient extent -to'provide a plurality of stations for operatives, t he surface of said table being generally inclined to, the horizontal at such anangle as to pet.-

I mit of the articles to be handled sliding downwardly thereover, means for-conveying articles toward said table, articles deposited on the latter from said means moving downwardly over said surface by the action of gravity substantially directly toward said stations, means for: limiting the downward movement of and retaining said articles substantially stationary at said-statable. I

2. The combination of a stationary routing table of sufficient extent to provide a plurality ofoperating stations, means of materially less width than said tabl e for j conveying articles toward and delivering them substantially unacted uponby'gravity directly to the table, said conveying means delivering endwise thereof toward said table, said table adapted to spread the so delivered articles over its surface substan-' tially toward said stations, and means for stopping said articles at said" stations.

'3. The combination of a stationaryrout- 'ing table ,of sufficient] extent to provide a materiallyxless width than said -table for "conveying articles toward and delivering ;conveying articles toward and delivering them to the latterfsaid table having a humped surface for spreading the so deliveredarticl'es thereover substantially to- -.ward' said stations, the'upper portion of stationary routsaidf humped surface being substantially horizontal and said means delivering arti-' cles'to this portion, whereby to check the .motion thereof" preparatory to spreading said articles in manner aforesaid. @In-"testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses. FREDERICK G. WHITTIER. Witnesses:

\ C. T. CUTTING, WM. W. BUCK. 

